![[0061] A Hell Of A Drug](http://www.sandraandwoo.com/comics/2009-05-21-[0061]-a-hell-of-a-drug.png "[0061] A Hell Of A Drug")
The current story arc started with this strip: Addicted.
If you think that this story is too far out there, then you are mistaken. It is loosely based on a true story which took place at an American school in the 1990s. I will give more information about that after the publication of the last strip of the arc, since telling it now would ruin half of the fun.
- Teacher: What kind of drug is this?
- Larisa: … Insulin, duh.
- Teacher: Oh…
- Teacher: … my God! You’re taking this horrible stuff?
- Larisa: I don’t like where this is going.
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Plot twist!
Haha, it would be an American school. Why does that not surprise me.
Aaaaaaah. I really don’t get why the teacher would suspect that…
Ah America… home of idiocy…
I don’t particularly appreciate the “America is sooo stupid” hits. Most people know what insulin is HOWEVER. You are not permitted to use medication without a note and even then you could only use it in the nurse’s room(Unless its an inhaler but definitely not a syringe). Seriously though. I know how we look when we do things that don’t seem bright, But show a little respect for the Americans that aren’t stupid.
Gratuitous insults notwithstanding this comic is quite the fun read.
let it go everyone (including those who haven’t posted but want to). just enjoy the strip. that’s why it’s here.
I hope that teacher never gets diabetes. Some people don’t understand or insensitive to people with an illness. Or at least till they get sick. This teacher seem to know about a new medical break through in medical science on diabetes that would help. As an anmerican. I’d say it screwed up. But anywhere there’s human influence there’s bound to be ploblems!!!!!!! I turn on the news, there’s trouble in the U.k. Africa, Australia,mexico,and other placesni didn’t mention! We just can’t or won’t get along!
Ah, my beloved homeland, where science takes a back seat to political expediency. >sigh<
Considering that I’ve read stories about schools where students were expelled for carrying aspirin, this comic actually seems rather tame.
I approve of the edit, considering we also suspected insulin, and know it’s not horrible stuff.
Sandra saw trouble coming and vanished from the bench.
Your public education system at work
(Hey look! This one isn’t America bashing, just government bashing!)
I know didn’t expect the comments, but all people have idiocy sometimes, i just find the thought funny if the teacher taught biology.
Something like this actually happened at our high school. (A parocial one for boys) It seems the student forgot to submit a note about his illness even though he wore an emergency medical alert bracelet. Teacher caught him injecting the insulin while sitting in a bathroom stall. Teacher thought “insulin” was a new street name for heroin. Student went to the principle’s office and after a few phone calls, the teacher had to apologize to the student.
Just a sidenote, the student still got detention for failing to submit the required medical form.
Childhood diabetes is an awful thing. Once saw a kid go into insulin shock. It’s bad enough for adults
Tyron, that teacher will probably not get diabetes because she is a drawing, drawings can’t get diseases only real people can, i learned that in medical school
making us wait until you reveal the tru story of Teacher incompetence only takes from the mystique of the Sandra Story.
@Cairn Destop I wouldn’t be surprised if that was an actual legitimate street name for heroin, but that still doesn’t make ignorance acceptable.
I like the comic strip, and I don’t mind the American bashing–even though I am one. If you can’t laugh at yourself, who you can you laugh at? Misunderstandings happen all the time, just roll with it I say. Although some people do get too wound up over insignificant events.
I was rather annoyed by the protrayal in “The Triplets of Belleville” of all USAians (except gangsters) as immensely obese. It’s not true; and even though i am considered extremely obese, i ain’t that fat.
That said, we do have a problem with our image overseas in a lot of ways, and certainly the recently departed ruling junta in Washington had a lot to do with it’s getting worse the last eight or so years.
This does sound familiar, and I seem to recall think they were stupid back then… Lately it’s been teachers ripping out insulin pumps.
Well the new thing for some people with diabetes are insulin pumps, bad thing is that they look like pagers. I was going to school when we got a sub she did know that i had a note, so when I did my finger stick for lunch break and needed to take some insulin for lunch she saw and thought i was checking a pager, needless to say she escorted me to the office where the head guy of the school district was just starting his review of the school. Needless to say she got fired, he had one to, so who’s the stupid one here?
@BONER JACKSON *ROFL!* My name is spelled without an “e”! Why does the little girl has it?! I heard that diabetes is considered a genetic flaw cause I HAVE DIABETES AND WOULDN’T CARE TO SEE ANYONE ELSE WITH IT! (even drawings) See what I mean!? *ROFL!* Thanks!
Funny, but I’m reading that the teacher ‘got’ what was going on, but decided to play along and send Larisa in for being a smart-ass. Sound plausible?
@Bartimaeus: actually, after hearing you say that, panels 2 and 3 make a lot more sense – either that, or she thinks Sandra’s friend is simply shooting insulin for fun or something.
Reviewer: “Lucy, what can you tell me about the dead tree in ‘The Secret Garden’?”
Lucy: “I’ve never been in there.” Reviewer: ?
Teacher: “You can trust Lucy on this.” Reviewer: ????
The reviewer goes to the principal and describes Lucy’s and the teacher’s answers.
Principal: “I’m sure none of our students had anything to do with it, but I’ll pay for planting a new tree.”
—
I think Sandra is off alerting her dad, as the principal probably won’t help.
This sounds really similar to something that happened at my own high school earlier this year… a guy got expelled for having prescription meds that he NEEDED, without proper documentation in the office, and these two girls overheard him joking about the medication with a friend (pretty much like Larisa and Sandra in the last strip) and they blabbed on him…
Looking forward to see how this story turns out, though
I believe the edit was for the best. Sure sounds like is either clueless or identifying with some sort of street name.
Then again, there ARE a ton of street names out there. Reminded of this one radio ad about a mom appraoching her son with this conversation, “I heard that they are going to start drug testing in your school. So, have you been using heroin? *son* No. *mom* Marijuana? *son, slightly smart mouthed.* No. *mom* Mexican Speed Balls, snort… (and the commercial fades out the audio, hinting that she lists a million more drug names.) *son, pausing.* Ummm…maybe???”
Just remember, kids…”Winners don’t do drugs.” As seen on darn near any arcade video game splash screen.
Oh hey, look. American public schools be retarded. What else is new? 8D
And before someone jumps me, I attended public school for a grand total of two and a half years before I moved to private institutions and then home schooling. When you’re constantly harassed by kids twice your size, and no one does anything about it, it’s time to go somewhere else.
I’m American, but I haven’t been proud of that since… Oh, I can’t even remember when I was proud of being American. A little sad, hmm?
@Aaron(swifteye) -Nicely put.
Can’t say I’ve been too proud of how things tend to go on in this country,with that said I really do not cared to be grouped with the idiots who make everyone else in said country look and.
Anyway,I too look forward to the conclusion of this story arc and as to what inspired it.
wow a grand total of 2.5 years. not sayin that they cant be stupid or anything, but what did you do to stop the bullying? and that alone shouldnt make you unproud of being an american. its kinda a stupid reason. and in regards to the first few comments, not all americans are stupid, however the MAJORITY of the human race is, wether it be America, China, or anywhere else on this planet.
That’s no teacher. She’s only a professor.
Ah! Another example of how people today love to criticize another persons hard work.
If it helps, the place where the actual incident he’s basing this story on took place in Arkansas. I know, because he got the story from me.
So if you want to see it as America bashing, you’re a bit off. Arkansas bashing, however, is perfectly justified. I lived there for 15 years, and you really can’t bash the place enough.
Sadly, they do have the best state park system anywhere, which is why I continue to go there for camping and such.
Hmm, my sister has got diabetes, and her device used to take insulin (not a insulin pump) looks, reeaaly different from a syringe, so she never had any problems with it…
Most people are intelligent enough.
It’s society that’s a fuxing moron.
My school’s teachers would definitely do this.
I like “Just as I suspected” better.
Shouldn’t the clearly labled sealed containers have tipped off the teacher?
To be fair, the teacher could simply be unfamiliar with diabetes; I suspect many teachers do not get “non-illlegal things that resemble illegal things” training.
As a product of the American public school meat-grinder, I can say with authority that yes–they ARE this bad, the people running them ARE this stupid and this is NOT an exaggeration by any stretch.
If Larisa were in my high school, she’d have been expelled on the spot. It’s also likely the police would have gotten involved.
And no–most people aren’t intelligent enough. Most people are idiots–think about how stupid the average person is, and realize half of them are worse.
My first impression when I read the third panel was that she was some kind’ve carzy who hates all non-herbal medicine, thinking anything not provided by nature is automatically bad. I have had teachers try and force those kinds of personal beliefs on me and my fellow students when I was in school and college.
yall sure do whine alot about stuff. enjoy the comic and quit whining. whiners.
I remember one story about how a 13 year old girl got stripped searched for cold medicine.
There’s a good reason zero-tolerance policies, even of matters which on the surface make sense, are a bad thing.
They remove from the enforcers any need to assess the situation and determine the egregiousness of the offense. It may well be that the student breaking a policy may not have intended to do so (perhaps Mom’s cutlery accidentally got left in the truck when Junior drove it to campus..) and thus is not deserved of a heavy hand like another student who intentionally flaunts policy.
And not all American schools are havens of stupidity, although I have no doubt it is more common than it ought to be. There is truth to most stereotypes, and so I look forward to seeing how this storyline goes.
I’d like to add to the chorus that says, “Yes, people this stupid are in charge of American children’s education.” A few personal anecdotes:
In second grade, a teacher screamed at me in front of her class for not being able to read after I asked her how to play the game she’d just given me- as a reward for good grades.
In ninth grade, I got my first and only set of demerits for wearing shorts that were too short- they were in compliance with the old rule, which was fingertip length, but the new rule was distributed in gym classes (which I had dropped in favor of band and phys ed elective for reasons you can probably guess) was that or 5 inches above the knee, and I was tall enough back then that I couldn’t find shorts like that made for anyone except old ladies. That there, wouldn’t have been so bad if the cheerleader hadn’t walked by as soon as I came out of the office with her butt cheeks hanging out the bottoms of her shorts.
Finally, my senior year, my family had got a cell phone (a fact that makes me feel incredibly old). I had it that day because I had an academic team meet, and I needed to let my parents know who I was riding with and where to pick me up. I made my arrangements during the day and stepped outside to call my parents after class had ended. The principal saw me, and if it wasn’t for some very fast action by my academic team coach, I would have got suspended under the zero-tolerance policy for drug dealing. Because apparently nefarious drug dealers use cell phones to call their parents and let them know where they’ll be in the evening.
Only looking back on it now can I see how messed up it really was, and it’s only gotten worse in the eight years I’ve been out. School isn’t school anymore- it’s pre-incarceration.
I actually have to side with the teacher, this technically is the right AND SMART thing to do. Yes insulin is important for diabetics, but in the safety interests of all students it should have been administered at the school’s clinic. I’ve actually witnessed a poor kid get his needles taken away by a school bully (that couldn’t have ended well). The schools I’ve attended have been very understanding and offer to hold the student’s supply of insulin safe for them to come in any time if they need their shot.
I’m hoping this school has as smart of a principalas mine did.
A girl got strip searched not too long ago to prove she had Ibuprofen. This is real.
I guess Larisa will not get expelled, because the principal will feel lenient and send her to detention… with the real bad boys of the school. Then the teacher supposed to monitor the kids will leave to do some stuff elsewhere and lock them in together.
Scared yet?
I thought the strip was funny. Why all the hub-bub people?
@tink:
A few years back, my local high school was going through a very expensive remodel. We’re talking state of the art buildings with actual levels, hallways and A/C. Courtyards that could rival colleges. Security cameras; the whole nine yards. Included were “miles” of fences (both permanent and temporary) that for the better part of a couple years, left the whole place looking like a prison over a school. The construction of the clock tower didn’t help counter that impression one bit.
@James:
And, yes. American schooling is not what it used to be. But, it gets it’s students through the system. And, the way the job environment is going, every American is *suppose* to proceed on to college to learn the “good stuff”.
If there’s doubt about how great America truly is, then there’s always a great deal of places on Earth to move to…that’ll drive the notion like a hammer into what you didn’t even realize you had.
In context, I can see why some would side with the teacher or Larisa here, but to be honest, both are in the wrong AND right.
The teacher is right to be angry over the use of insulin here, but only because it’s on school grounds, and NOT in the nurses office, or whatever room the school designates. But it sounds more like said teacher is angry Larisa is using insulin on school grounds, period – a sure-fire way to loose their job. Schools have the right to dictate WHERE you can use a medical drug, but the IF and WHEN are dictated by the students doctor, and given to the school on a note, not the school or it’s nurse.
Teachers are normally informed when they have a diabetic student as well nowadays, quite possibly because of the said 1990′s story. It’s not like it’s hard to get said information anymore – between the ‘net and the American Diabetes Association, you can get more than enough information in a very short time.
Larisa, on the other hand, should probably have known better. Even if she’s submitted a note to the school from her doctor, there’s still normally a designated location in the building for the use of medical-drugs. In a sane world, the end result would be phone calls, apology, detention for Larisa for one day, ect.
… not that the worlds even remotely sane to begin with, lol.
The hub-bub is more friendly discussion than angry rant that I can see.
And I can see where it might be prudent to take cautionary action where needle-injected drugs are concerned, although a teacher ought to be aware of the necessity of some students to use injected insulin.
I would also side with minor punishment (like a day of detention) for the failure of a diabetic student to notify the school of their needs and work with nurses to take care of those needs.